Chapter One
1320 Words
“Don’t move.”
The command was a growl against my throat, low, dangerous, vibrating through every nerve in my body.
But how could I not move when Alpha Dorian Blackthorn’s fangs hovered just above my skin?
The hall was suffocating with silence. Hundreds of eyes bore into me—wolves, elders, betas, warriors—every breath held as they waited for the bite that would bind me.
“This is insane,” I hissed, twisting against his grip. “I don’t want this.”
His storm-gray eyes locked on mine, hard as steel. “Neither do I.”
“Then don’t,” I shot back. “Let me go.”
His jaw tightened, nostrils flaring. “The council demands it. The pack demands it.”
“And what do you demand?”
A flicker of something—pain?—crossed his face. But he bent his head lower, breath scorching my neck. “That you don’t tremble. They’ll smell it.”
“I’m not trembling,” I lied, my knees quaking.
His lips brushed my skin. My pulse thundered so loudly it drowned the whispers from the crowd.
“Dorian,” I whispered, voice breaking. “Please—don’t do this.”
His teeth sank into me.
I gasped, clutching his arm, heat searing through my veins. The crowd exhaled as one—relief, satisfaction, approval. The ceremony was complete. The Alpha had claimed his Luna.
Except—
Something was wrong.
His body jerked. His grip crushed my waist. The bite didn’t fade into warmth; it burned like fire, like acid.
“Dorian?” My voice rose in panic. “What’s happening?”
A sound ripped from him—half snarl, half scream. His eyes snapped open, blazing silver, not gray.
The pack reeled back.
“Fenrir,” someone whispered.
“No—” another elder choked. “It’s not possible—”
He threw back his head and roared.
The torches flickered. The stone floor quaked beneath us.
And the voice that thundered from his chest was not Dorian’s.
**“Mine.”**
---
Chaos exploded.
“Get her away from him!”
“No—contain him!”
Screams, growls, the scrape of chairs—wolves panicked, scrambling, torn between saving me and saving themselves.
But before anyone could move, claws sprouted from his hands, sliding like blades. He swept me off my feet as if I weighed nothing.
“Selene!”
Maren’s voice cut through the madness. I saw her pushing forward, fighting against guards who held her back.
I thrashed in his grip, kicking, pounding his chest. “Dorian, stop! Fight it!”
His grin split too wide, eyes blazing silver fire. **“Dorian sleeps. Fenrir runs.”**
“You’re not real!” I screamed, clawing at his shoulder.
His laughter was jagged stone. **“Not real? Do you feel my claws? Hear my breath? I am more real than the coward who cages me.”**
The High Elder’s voice trembled. “Alpha, resist! Remember your oath!”
But he didn’t hear. Or he didn’t care.
**“She is mine.”** His voice boomed through the hall. **“The bond is sealed. The Luna belongs to Fenrir.”**
“No!” I cried, shoving at him. “I belong to no one!”
He turned toward the doors, ignoring the uproar behind him. Wolves leapt to block his path—brave, foolish. He swatted them aside like flies. Bodies crashed into stone walls, groans echoing.
And then we were through the doors, into the night.
---
The cold hit like a slap.
“Put me down!” I screamed, pounding his back. “Dorian, hear me!”
**“He cannot hear you.”**
“He can! I know he can!”
His stride didn’t falter, the ground shattering beneath each step. **“You waste your breath. He sleeps, dreaming he is free. But I—”** His teeth gleamed in the moonlight. **“I am the truth he hides.”**
“You’re a curse!”
**“I am salvation.”**
“You killed them!” My voice cracked. “All the Lunas before me—you murdered them!”
**“We murdered them.”** His silver gaze cut into me. **“Do not blame only me. His hands, his teeth, his hunger. I am the shadow he denies, but I am no ghost. Their blood was on *our* lips.”**
“No—”
**“Yes.”**
My heart hammered. My stomach twisted. He was lying. He had to be lying.
“Dorian would never—”
**“Dorian did. And he will again.”**
---
We hit the forest edge, branches slapping against us. I struggled harder, nails digging into his flesh. “Dorian, wake up! You’re stronger than him—fight back!”
For one heartbeat, his stride faltered. His jaw clenched. A strangled groan slipped from his throat.
“Sel—”
Hope surged. “Yes! It’s me! Fight him!”
But silver swallowed the gray. His snarl ripped the air. **“Do not call him!”**
He hurled me off his shoulder.
I slammed into the ground, pain bursting across my ribs. Gasping, I scrambled back, dirt under my nails.
He stalked forward, crouched low, claws digging into the soil. **“Run if you like. I will catch you. I will always catch you.”**
I shoved to my feet, staggering back. “Stay away from me!”
His grin was cruel. **“Why? You are mine.”**
“I’ll never be yours.”
**“You already are.”** He gestured to my neck, where the mark burned bright. **“The pack saw it. The bond is sealed. Even he believes it. When he wakes, he will swear it was his bite. His choice. He will never know it was me.”**
My blood turned to ice. “…What?”
**“You think he will believe you? That you tell him Fenrir marked you, not Dorian, and he will embrace you?”** His laughter was soft, venomous. **“No. He will call you liar. He will think you regret him. And he will turn from you.”**
“You’re lying.”
**“Am I? Tell him, and you lose him. Stay silent, and he remains yours.”**
“I don’t want him!”
**“Then you should have died with the rest.”**
---
“Selene!”
Maren’s voice shattered the clearing, closer now.
My head whipped toward the sound, relief and terror colliding. “Maren—I’m—”
His clawed hand clamped over my mouth, silencing me. His eyes burned inches from mine.
**“Say another word,”** he hissed, lethal soft, **“and when she enters this clearing, I’ll tear her throat. Choose, little Luna. Silence, or her blood.”**
My chest heaved. Tears burned hot. My voice was trapped behind his grip.
Maren’s footsteps crashed closer. “Selene!”
My heart screamed to answer. My soul screamed to fight.
But his claws pressed warning against my jaw.
And then—his body spasmed. Violent. Sudden.
His claws shrank. His eyes flickered storm-gray. His snarl broke into a groan.
He collapsed to his knees, clutching his head.
“Selene?” His voice cracked, hoarse, human. He lifted his gaze—Dorian’s gaze. Confused. Horrified. “What… what did I do?”
His eyes fell to my throat, to the burning mark. His breath hitched. “What did I do to you?”
Maren’s voice cut through the trees, almost here.
And inside my skull, Fenrir’s whisper coiled like smoke:
**Tell him, and you lose him. Stay silent, and he remains yours.**
- Writer
